A good deal

The first Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) appeared in the US in 1993 and targeted both pension funds and retail investors. Since then the range of funds and the markets covered have expanded greatly, covering equities, bonds, real estate and commodities. Despite 28 April 2006 marking the sixth anniversary of the launch of the first ETF in the UK, and the obvious attractions of these investments, they feature in relatively few retail investor portfolios. To the multi-manager, however, ETFs have proved useful tools in portfolio management. An ETF is essentially an index-tracker fund, packaged in...